collaboration – Inside BlackBerry for Business Bloghttp://bizblog.blackberry.com
Sat, 10 Dec 2016 02:59:38 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://0.gravatar.com/blavatar/20ac8e1f171f33d226baa862f286c029?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngcollaboration – Inside BlackBerry for Business Bloghttp://bizblog.blackberry.com
Pull Shadow IT Out of the Darkness While Keeping Workers Connected to Their Datahttp://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/07/pull-shadow-it-out-of-the-darkness-while-keeping-workers-connected-to-their-data/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/07/pull-shadow-it-out-of-the-darkness-while-keeping-workers-connected-to-their-data/#respondThu, 07 Jul 2016 17:32:00 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=19073/ Read More]]>Employees install software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications on their phones to access information that is important to business operations. These applications, such as Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Concur, Office 365, and many others, could be used without your IT organization’s oversight. When someone leaves the company, files, data, and even login credentials are vulnerable to exposure. According to Gartner, “By 2020, a third of successful attacks experienced by enterprises will be on their shadow IT resources.” Gartner suggests the best way for companies to minimize threats related to shadow IT is to accept that these risks exist, but do whatever they can to protect themselves and their data.

Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry provides single sign-on access to cloud and SaaS services. These include WatchDox by BlackBerry, Box, Workday, WebEx, Salesforce, and Google Apps for Work; administrators can also add custom services to Enterprise Identity. Employees get access to corporate apps without the hassle of signing in to each one, and administrators get the ability to control the access. Users can access services from any device: mobile phones or tablets, computers, web clients, and native platform clients are supported. This is an easy way to limit corporate data exposure.

How Enterprise Identity Makes It Easy to Protect Business Data

When a service – an application running on a server, managed by a third party – is configured in Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry, it means that a secure interface between Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry and your instance of that service has been set up. Additionally, you can create custom SaaS services. After enabling a service in Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry and synchronizing it with BES12, the BES12 management console can be used to administer the service and deploy entitlements to users.

Integration with BES12 makes it easy to manage users and permit them to access cloud services from their iOS, Android, and BlackBerry devices. Administrators can use BES12 to add services and manage users, as well as to add and manage additional administrators. Using BES12, cloud services and mobile app files can be bundled together and assigned to a user or group of users.

The most efficient way to enable users is by using app groups, which can be assigned to individual users or user groups. An app group can bind together both the single-sign-on entitlement for a service and the client application files needed for user mobile devices to interact with the service.

User groups give administrators flexibility to authorize large numbers of users at the same time or level instead of manually updating entitlements when users are added or removed from the group. When a user is added to a group, the appropriate entitlement is automatically assigned to them, allowing them to sign into the service from any device using the same credentials. If a user is removed from a group, they automatically lose access to those services.

For more details on how to protect your key business data from loss or theft, visit the official Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry product page. If you’re already an Enterprise Identity user, you can find documentation and answers to your questions on the Enterprise Identity Help page. Finally, if you’re concerned about balancing mobile productivity and security in your organization, don’t miss the opportunity to see solutions in action, speak to mobility and security experts, and share ideas with like-minded colleagues at the BlackBerry Enterprise Mobility Forum live events in September.

]]>http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/07/pull-shadow-it-out-of-the-darkness-while-keeping-workers-connected-to-their-data/feed/0shadowIT-peeperjorobertsblackberrycomshadowIT-peeperDouble crossingDoctors Used to be Banned from Texting. Here’s What Has Changed.http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/06/doctors-used-to-be-banned-from-texting-heres-what-has-changed/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/06/doctors-used-to-be-banned-from-texting-heres-what-has-changed/#respondTue, 07 Jun 2016 16:26:07 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=18686/ Read More]]>The Joint Commission, the United States’ main healthcare accreditation body, has lifted its ban on healthcare providers using secure text messaging to communicate patient information. This may come as a surprise to the vast majority of healthcare providers who have already been using text messaging in their jobs for quite a while. But it’s a long overdue move that promises to improve both healthcare communication and data security.

The Joint Commission’s decision to permit text messaging comes with some caveats that aim to address the main reason they had a ban in the first place: the loose security practices of consumer text messaging apps, which threaten the security of patients’ personal health information (PHI) and violate patient privacy rules, like those in HIPAA.

They lifted the ban not only because it’s being violated so flagrantly (after all, 96% of doctors told Spyglass Consulting in 2014 that they use text messaging to communicate patient information), but because text messaging works. It makes healthcare providers more efficient and gets information to the right people with expediency, helping get the right care to patients more quickly.

But the fact is that smartphones get lost or stolen all the time and many consumer-grade apps are easily hackable. The security threats are real if healthcare providers are using unsecure text messaging apps. This is why the Joint Commission added some limitations to its text messaging rules.

What’s allowed now?

The new rules say that healthcare providers may text patient orders for care, treatment and services “as long as a secure text messaging platform is used and the required components of an order are included.” According to the Joint Commission, a “secure text messaging platform” must include the following features:

Secure sign-on process

Encrypted messaging

Delivery and read receipts

Date and time stamp

Customized message retention time frames

Specified contact list for individuals authorized to receive and record orders

You can probably already surmise that the text messaging apps that come on your standard smartphones or that consumers can get in mobile app stores don’t comply with these rules.

On the other hand, BBM Enterprise (formerly known as BBM Protected), BlackBerry’s encrypted, cross-platform instant messaging software, has all of these capabilities. It gives healthcare providers (and others) with Android, iPhone and BlackBerry devices the ability to securely communicate and collaborate on patient care, whether they’re sitting at their desk, doing rounds at the hospital, on call at home or practically anywhere else.

U.S. healthcare organizations that are exploring secure text messaging platforms in light of the Joint Commission’s decision can look to the experience of Grand River Hospital, a Canadian hospital system that uses BBM Enterprise to communicate.

Grand River Hospital’s chief information management officer, Kathleen Lavoie, says teams of providers are improving patient care by using BBM Enterprise to securely communicate about specific patients, while ensuring they’re meeting government standards for protecting PHI. Because the BBM Enterprise portal enables staff to see who is on call, find other staff members through an enterprise-wide contact list and mark high-priority messages so they aren’t missed, Grand River has seen a great increase in staff communication that’s translated into better patient experiences.

In addition, Grand River has integrated BBM Enterprise with BlackBerry’s BES12 enterprise mobility management (EMM), which is one piece of our comprehensive portfolio of end-to-end enterprise mobility solutions. By virtue of our acquisitions and product enhancements, companies can meet all of their mobile needs, including secure calling and messaging, critical mass notifications, enterprise apps, device, data and document security, company-owned mobile devices, and more through BlackBerry, greatly simplifying vendor management.

It’s far from the only contender in the file sharing space. There are many competitors, both consumer options and enterprise file synchronization and sharing (EFSS) tools. Yet even in such a diverse market, WatchDox stands apart.

1. A “Single Pane of Glass” View

No matter where your documents are stored, users have a unified view of all the files they have access to. Administrators can configure, manage and enforce security policies on those files through a central console regardless of where the files reside. This allows companies to leverage and connect to their existing enterprise file stores.

2. Flexibility and Compatibility

Available as a cloud, on-premises or hybrid installation, you can deploy WatchDox in whatever manner best suits your IT environment.

It’s built to integrate with key enterprise solutions, so you needn’t invest in additional architecture just to use it. It’s platform-neutral and capable of working seamlessly with a wide range of existing security solutions such as enterprise mobility management (EMM) platforms, eDiscovery, data-loss prevention systems and identity and access management (IAM) tools. And it’s flexible enough to work with the systems your employees, customers, and partners are already familiar with – you can implement its security without changing much about the end-user’s experience.

You can even re-brand it to reflect your distinct corporate look and feel if you want to provide a seamless interface across multiple apps and tools.

WatchDox also offers multiple authentication options, allowing different types of users to authenticate in different ways – what we call multi-modal authentication. Internal employees, for example, can use their Microsoft Active Directory credentials to sign in. For external users, WatchDox integrates easily with OAuth and SAML and supports self-provisioning via a username and password.

3. Powerful DRM

WatchDox leverages Microsoft’s MDRM solution to enforce digital rights management (DRM) for MS Office. Of course, there are a few key differences between WatchDox’s DRM and Microsoft’s – a few improvements we added ourselves. Our proprietary .pdf viewer allows us to effectively enforce DRM for .pdf and image files across all platforms.

WatchDox provides multiple ways of setting DRM permissions, offering flexibility that supports any collaboration use case. Users and permissions can be set at a workspace or folder level so that administrators can easily enforce corporate security policies through file access permissions, and you can set up a workspace, define groups of users and assign access custom permissions to each group.

That’s very handy when, for instance, you are trying to enable collaboration between a group of employees, partners and customers, each with different access, file editing and sharing permissions.

WatchDox also enables users to easily use DRM in real-time, providing tools that integrate into everyday workflow. It’s easy to quickly share a file securely directly from Microsoft Outlook, Salesforce.com or your mobile device without having to create a dedicated workspace. In addition, it’s the only document-control solution that allows the enforcement of DRM permissions directly on the device. Because we have our own device client, we apply encryption and security controls to files regardless of form factor – even Microsoft’s DRM doesn’t do this.

4. Productivity-First Mobility

At WatchDox, we believe that extreme, complex security measures typically hinder productivity and prevent sharing across organized boundaries and devices. But we also believe that an EFSS platform needs to do more than account for convenience. It must enable it, especially on mobile devices.

That’s why WatchDox includes a number of features designed to allow employees to work anywhere, anytime. Chief among these is the ability to add annotations to a shared document – a preferred method of collaboration for mobile, where smaller screens make direct editing cumbersome. Users can add freeform drawings and sticky notes directly atop files, which are instantly shared with all other users who’ve been given access.

Other key collaborative features include a DRM-protected offline mode (for example, if an employee needs to work on an airplane), easy creation and management of workspaces, automatic sync across workspaces, a user-friendly, intuitive interface, and compatibility with systems such as email.

5. Integrated Document Editing

Most EFSS tools feature some form of document editing. However, they offer it through a potentially insecure third-party app; once a document’s been opened by that app, it’s no longer secure. WatchDox allows users to directly edit and annotate files on mobile devices without requiring any additional tools. Apps are opened in a secure container within the WatchDox interface, and DRM controls are always applied.

Users can securely edit their files on any mobile device, as they aren’t limited by the compatibility of a secondary document editing application (and you don’t need to worry about whether or not said application puts your sensitive data at risk).

With superior DRM, integrated collaboration tools and granular security controls, WatchDox provides the right security for every use case. In addition, its capacity to adapt to an organization’s mobile environment, file repositories and security architecture allow it to extend existing investments, rather than interfere with them. These factors together are what sets WatchDox apart from its competitors and make it the best choice on the market for multiplatform document control.

]]>http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/05/five-reasons-watchdox-is-a-standout-option-for-enterprise-file-sharing/feed/0WatchDox-StandsOut_tndanaukerblackberryWatchDox-StandsOut_cWoman looking out of enormous windows at citycollaboration-outsideHow 5 Companies in 5 Industries Are Bolstering File Security With WatchDoxhttp://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/03/how-5-companies-in-5-industries-are-bolstering-file-security-with-watchdox/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/03/how-5-companies-in-5-industries-are-bolstering-file-security-with-watchdox/#respondFri, 11 Mar 2016 13:02:53 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=17988/ Read More]]>In the past, we’ve discussed the unsafe file sharing tendencies of all but the most vigilant employees, and the challenges document sharing represents for industries such as healthcare and legal services. Throughout, we’ve maintained that WatchDox by BlackBerry is the key to document security, offering a secure enterprise file sync and sharing platform that combines ease of use with industry-recognized security. Now, we’re putting our money where our mouth is with a new webinar.

Security: Files are protected by end-to-end encryption while at rest, in transit, on server and on device, and businesses retain ownership of these files even outside the firewall. Through digital rights management technology, WatchDox lets you control and restrict whether a recipient can download, copy, edit or print a file with permissions that can either be set to expire automatically or manually revoked at any time.

Single pane of glass view: Whether stored on premises, in the cloud or both, users have a unified view of all files they’ve been given access to.

Tracking: Businesses retain control over files even when they are shared outside the organization. More importantly, they can track how, where and by whom each file has been accessed and used. This is particularly important for global organizations with wide supply chains or large fleets of contractors.

Authentication: Granular user management and a mix of authentication methods together make WatchDox compatible with even the most stringent regulatory guidelines.

“WatchDox makes it easy for normal people to securely manage, transfer and collaborate on sensitive files,” explains Auker. “And when we say it’s part of the Blackberry platform, we don’t just mean that it has a Blackberry logo on it. The WatchDox console is fully integrated with the BES admin console, and the WatchDox client is fully integrated into the Good Dynamics solution.”

Auker then dedicates the bulk of the webinar to describing how WatchDox is impacting five key industries: financial services and insurance, media and entertainment, government, healthcare and life sciences, and technology and manufacturing, driving home the solution’s value with customer success stories. Highlights include:

One of the world’s largest private equity firms saved $1,500 per attendee at its conferences by using WatchDox to distribute conference materials. With over $205B of assets, this firm hosts 10 to 15 conferences per year with over 500 attendees at each. It also uses WatchDox to streamline its board meetings.

An American film and television production and distribution company protects scripts from leaking out and improves collaboration on films by managing its files through WatchDox, which is easily integrated into its current mobile platform. Before adopting WatchDox, the company would have to fly scripts out to its actors and keep the actors under guard while they read.

A government agency with over 600,000 employees and over 200,000 vehicles – the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world – uses WatchDox to manage its employee application process, storing documents which include questionnaires, personal data and even fingerprints. Through WatchDox, this information is shared securely with internal human resources staff, and also externally with other agencies.

One of the largest healthcare operations in the United States uses WatchDox to manage medical applications and transfer patient records between clinicians. HIPAA is a major compliance hurdle for this organization, and a major selling point for WatchDox was the fact that doctors, nurses and other staff can easily access medical data on their mobile devices while remaining compliant.

The world’s leading innovator in athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories uses WatchDox to secure its massive global supply chain, protecting documents that could be used by third parties to counterfeit its products, which could cost it tens of billions of dollars annually. Protecting every segment of its supply chain would be a logistical nightmare without WatchDox, which allows it to freely extend and revoke file access privileges.

The webinar concludes with a brief Q&A, which covers topics including:

The location of the WatchDox cloud servers and storage systems

The extent of WatchDox’s compatibility

How WatchDox handles the secure sharing of video files on mobile devices

]]>http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/03/how-5-companies-in-5-industries-are-bolstering-file-security-with-watchdox/feed/0flying-documentsncgreeneflying-documentswhatiswatchdoxdocumentsecurity[Webinar Recap]: How BlackBerry’s Good Secure Suites Unleashes Worker Productivity and Corporate ROIhttp://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/03/webinar-recap-how-blackberrys-good-secure-suites-unleashes-worker-productivity-and-corporate-roi/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/03/webinar-recap-how-blackberrys-good-secure-suites-unleashes-worker-productivity-and-corporate-roi/#respondTue, 08 Mar 2016 12:46:58 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=17923/ Read More]]>With BlackBerry’s purchase of Good Technology in November, we became the single largest EMM provider on the market, with a 20% share according to IDC. In the months since the acquisition, we’ve worked hard to integrate the powerful Good Dynamics Secure Mobility Platform into our own portfolio.

Good Secure EMM Suites is the end result of those efforts, a multi-tiered EMM solution which offers business-class productivity apps with gold-standard security for organizations at any point along the mobile maturity curve (pictured below).

We’ve already touched briefly on each of the five suites: Secure Management, Secure Enterprise, Secure Collaboration, Secure Mobility, and Secure Content. Today, we’d like to offer a more comprehensive look with a recent webinar hosted by BlackBerry Senior Director of Product Marketing Jeff McGrath and BlackBerry Senior Director of Technical Solutions Todd Berger. Introducing Good Secure EMM Suites: A New Class of Mobile Productivity with Certified Security starts off with an explanation of the obstacles currently faced by businesses seeking to move up the mobile maturity curve – and how BlackBerry can help.

“What we’re seeing in the market is that many customers are in the EMM & Messaging stage, still at the beginning of their journey,” explains McGrath. “Employees are in the field, execs are always online, they live on their devices and all they really have is email. But employees want more with full mobile collaboration and access to business apps, while the business wants to take advantage of mobilization to accelerate business goals and maximize returns on its investment into mobility.”

And that’s where BlackBerry comes in. Through its acquisitions over the past several years, the company has, says McGrath, developed a true end-to-end software platform designed to help manage and secure all of a business’s mobile communications. BES12 forms the backbone of this platform, and Good Secure EMM Suites – which consists of BES12, WatchDox, and Good Dynamics and the Good secure app portfolio– is only the first step in BlackBerry’s plans for mobile enablement.

McGrath then hands the reins over to Berger for an in-depth demonstration of the Suites solution, including the functionality of BES12’s new integrated interface, advanced connection and policy controls, the new user workspace, and much more. After the demo, McGrath takes over again with an in-depth exploration of each suite, including components, functionality, position on the mobile maturity curve, pricing, deployment options, and the strong security certifications that back everything up.

“When you really think about these suites, we drive maximum value through your mobility lifecycle, as you move from email to horizontal collaboration, to mobilization of your existing business processes all the way through to 100% mobilization of your constituents – both employees and external users – to achieve full maturity and max ROI,” says McGrath. “All apps, whether third-party or custom built, are rolled out with complete data security and encryption – at rest, over the air, in use, and in between apps…we are the secure mobile app platform to grow and run your business on mobile.”

“Where this gets really interesting is when companies hit full maturity,” he continues. “Users are accessing apps and data on phones, tablets, PCs, even wearables, and they’re accessing applications behind the firewall, in public and private clouds, and leveraging personal clouds. Corporate files are everywhere. In this world of pervasive mobile computing, there is essentially no perimeter. File-level security and tracking becomes critical for IT to securely enable mobile business at scale.

The webinar concludes with a live Q&A session. Questions answered include:

How do current BlackBerry product licenses translate over to the subscription-based Good Secure EMM Suites model?

Do I need to choose either BES or Good Dynamics to manage my EMM Suite bundle?

]]>http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/03/webinar-recap-how-blackberrys-good-secure-suites-unleashes-worker-productivity-and-corporate-roi/feed/0Business people using smartphonesncgreeneSuites Update Slides (002)Smartphone In City Good TechnologyCropped view of a young businessman wearing a smartwatchWhat’s the Biggest Technology Problem in Healthcare?http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/03/whats-the-biggest-technology-problem-in-healthcare/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/03/whats-the-biggest-technology-problem-in-healthcare/#respondTue, 01 Mar 2016 16:42:29 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=17875/ Read More]]>Hospitals are technology marvels. Today we have any number of imaging machines to look inside patients’ bodies, wearable devices to track their vital signs and alert us to any deviation from normal ranges, and personalized medicine to ensure that the interventions we prescribe are targeted to each patient’s unique biology and genetics. We’ll soon have access to nano technology, artificial organs grown with magnetic levitation, 3D-printed artificial bones and any number of advanced medical technologies.

With all of this technology, it’s a wonder that anything ever goes wrong in the hospital. But things definitely go wrong, and the data points to breakdowns in communications as a major cause of medical errors. According to the Joint Commission, communication gaps lead to 70% of treatment delays and sentinel events in the hospital.

As Nate Gross, co-founder of Doximity and Rock Health, told the Clinton Foundation Health Matters Summit in January, “if miscommunication were considered a cause of death it would be the fifth leading cause of death in hospitals.” Gross and the other speakers at the Summit, including Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and President Clinton, agreed that the ways we communicate in the real world, over the Internet and mobile devices, are not translating to how we communicate in the healthcare world.

How is it that the technology-driven culture of healthcare is literally tied to the lowly pager on your hip? For one thing, many of our older hospitals have thick cement walls with are difficult to penetrate with low-frequency WiFi, which isn’t a problem with pagers’ ultra-high frequency waves. It’s also easy to hand your pager over to the next person on call at the end of your shift, like a baton in a relay race. Finally, we find the pager to be an acceptable scapegoat, grandfathered in from decades of use, when communication breaks down: “I didn’t get the page” or “I called back but got the ward clerk.”

But, knowing the repercussions of communications failures on patients’ health (not to mention our own efficiency), I think it’s past time that we ditched the pagers and modernized the technology that we use to communicate in the hospital.

It’s really not that hard: Most of us today carry smartphones, an exponentially more valuable communication tool then a pager. Enterprise mobility management (EMM) solutions, like BES12, turn staff-owned devices into powerful, secure, multipurpose enterprise communications tools and can save the hospital’s IT department money over buying and managing a fleet of single-purpose pagers.

So roll out a secure BYOD program, and buy devices for those who need them. Make them useful by beefing up your WiFi to overcome the barriers of thick concrete walls. Establish communication policies and enable secure messaging technologies across your organization for all hierarchies of personnel.

Workflows, access to collaboration tools and medical insights and secure messaging are not difficult to implement, and they’ll exponentially improve how we deliver healthcare today. Technology isn’t the problem; we are. And it’s time we changed that.

As businesses take stock of the past year and consider what 2016 has in store for them, one thing that is unlikely to change is the risk of emergencies. Whether it’s natural disasters, workplace accidents or incidents of violence, there is a constant need for vigilance and effective communication during a crisis. What can change from year to year; however, are trends within the emergency communication industry that can impact how organizations prepare for a crisis.

As other areas of business and technology continue evolving, here are six emergency communication trends to watch in 2016 and how they will impact businesses.

Interoperable Cross-Organizational Collaboration

A common thread in large-scale emergencies throughout the United States over the last decade has been the difficulty of communication between organizations, from first responders to local businesses to government agencies. Cross-agency collaboration has received significant attention on the federal level, even resulting in legislation mandating interoperable communications at the national level. As a result, federal agencies are building and implementing systems and platforms that enable this greater level of interoperable communication during an emergency.

In 2016, more private organizations will take these governmental lessons into consideration, and we will see a greater number of organizations deploy systems that enable them to simplify communication with relevant community organizations during a crisis. This will require targeting of emergency information only to the right authorities and applicable organizations. It will not be implemented as a public feed, rather as a network of applicable connections within the emergency community. An important part of this collaboration will be the ability to share more than text. As mobile alerting becomes the norm, we expect more companies will adopt the ability to share videos, photos, geolocation information and more to provide complete context and aid in decision making by the appropriate authorities. More information will result in better decisions and faster resolution of the crisis situation.

The Enterprise Approach

For any company investing in new technology, the question is how far to go to ensure current and future needs are met without overcommitting resources. For those that deploy an emergency notification system without anticipating the correct level of growth, as the user base grows, they experience complexity that their system is unable to handle. The result is a fragmented system with decentralized control, which makes effective alerting nearly impossible.

As the market matures and organizations develop more concrete emergency communication policies, 2016 should see an increase in large businesses that adopt an enterprise-level notification system. As a result they will have the technological capability of delegating emergency operations to various departments and campuses, while retaining a degree of central control to manage organization-wide emergencies when necessary.

Information Security vs. Cloud Computing

For years now organizations of all sizes have been steadily adopting cloud services because of the flexibility and cost savings they provide. Meanwhile, however, concerns about information security are more pronounced than ever, with data breaches of all kinds featuring prominently in technology news. For this reason some businesses, particularly large enterprises, have been more cautious in their cloud adoption. This caution includes keeping the personal identifying information (PII) used in mass notification systems behind the firewall.

Despite hesitation, however, cloud adoption will only march forward, and in 2016 we expect to see businesses finding the right balance between controlling their information and taking advantage of cloud infrastructure. That will entail the continued development of policies and practiced related to protecting PII, and further evolution of a hybrid approach to communication, where the delivery service is accomplished via the cloud and the information itself remains safe behind the corporate firewall. As a result, more companies will embrace government-level security standards without compromising their ability to utilize the cloud.

Integration with End Devices

One of the biggest buzzwords of the last few years has been the Internet of Things (IoT), and it’s a game-changing trend for businesses and individuals. With billions of devices now networked together and capable of an ever-increasing number of tasks, people are more connected than ever before. While in many ways this is a matter of convenience, when it comes to emergency communication it can be a matter of life and death.

With more devices connected to networks, centrally controlled communications can now be sent out simultaneously via a large number of channels. In addition, not only are these devices connected to networks, but many are also used as sensors to inform the emergency community, including phone cameras, heart monitors, etc. In 2016 we expect to see a greater push in unifying alerting activities across devices. In addition to desktop pop-up notifications and emails, more businesses will invest in systems that allow employees to receive alerts via smartphones, radios, digital displays, sirens, social media and more, tailored to the specific business and its unique needs. The result is quicker communication with employees for faster emergency response.

International Alerting Capabilities

With today’s always-on global economy, enterprises have a variety of language barriers to deal with as a part of everyday operations. A single office space may have 10 or more native languages spoken by employees. Many of these will have normal channels of translation and interpretation to meet every day needs, but during an emergency there is rarely time for language-related delays.

To ensure the delivery of clear, understandable alerts, 2016 will see important improvements in the way alerts are administered. End users who receive alerts on mobile devices and desktops will more frequently have the option of selecting their desired language. Furthermore, the operators of emergency notification systems will have more options for selecting languages for delivery. And finally, the entire alerting experience from operators to recipients will be available in the preferred language of the user, without location-specific constraints.

The Complete Mobile Experience

Related to the dramatic increase of interconnected devices is the further maturation of the mobile device as a do-it-all tool. For years now smartphones and tablets have been able to receive alerts as text messages and through purpose-built apps. What 2016 will bring, however, is a richer, fully capable mobile experience for emergency communication. Not only will users be able to receive a variety of information through these devices, but the system operators will be able to manage the entire alerting process from any web-enabled device. This will be a significant development for employees who find themselves in an emergency situation but lack computer access, and it stands to greatly improve overall emergency preparedness by increasing accessibility of alerting activities.

While 2016 will be a year of constant improvement, the end result will be businesses that are better prepared to protect their people and their local communities.

]]>http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/2016-emergency-communication-trends-to-watch-for/feed/02016_trendsodedlivecom2016_trendsglobalcommunicationcrisis-communications1Anatomy of a Natural Disasterhttp://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/anatomy-of-a-natural-disaster/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/anatomy-of-a-natural-disaster/#respondThu, 18 Feb 2016 16:44:32 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=17799/ Read More]]>The first step in preparing for a natural disaster is to define what is meant by the term “natural disaster.” We usually think of wildfires, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanoes, tsunamis and blizzards as similar crises.

However, each has its own distinct characteristics and must be managed according to the emergency preparedness requirements it demands. Consider the differences:

Hurricanes develop in the ocean over time and move relatively slowly. Torrential rains and flooding can equal or exceed the damage from high winds, with salt water from tidal surges causing substantial damage to fields, landscaping and critical infrastructure. The affected geography can be very wide and extend for hundreds of miles along coastal regions. With days of advanced warning, officials usually have the time to put large-scale response plans into effect.

Tornadoes typically develop over land, far from oceans, and are spawned from fast-moving storm fronts. There is little warning between the time when dangerous conditions develop and a tornado funnel hits the ground. Flash flooding threats can occur in regions where drought or climate prevents the land from absorbing large amounts of water and rain. The runoff can cause death and property damage. Frequently, flash flooding can also cause mud or landslides. The strongest measured hurricane was Hurricane Patricia in October 2015 with winds over 200 mph. Tornadoes can easily equal and exceed that velocity. The El Reno Tornado, which struck Moore, Oklahoma, on May 3, 1999, was clocked at 301 miles per hour. All weather events creating excessive wind speeds are potentially deadly. Heeding early warnings is imperative.

Seasonality: Hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean typically form between June 1 and November 30. Tornadoes occur most often between March and June, but can happen throughout the year. Other disasters also have varying degrees of predictability. Blizzards occur in wintertime. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happen unexpectedly when pressure is released deep underground, often with subsequent aftershocks.

Earthquakes can be geographically isolated and require the same level of coordinated response as blizzards and hurricanes – but without the lead time to move essential services into place. Incident management and recovery are complicated by higher levels of damage to roads, buildings, electrical systems and other essential infrastructure.

Tornadoes represent an entirely different situation from earthquakes. The speed of these storms and focused locations of extreme damage create scenarios in which storm tracking efforts across multiple jurisdictions must be coordinated with local resources to issue alerts within short time frames. After the storm has safely passed, local, state and federal resources can enter the affected areas to begin recovery efforts.

Surge capacity of impacted areas: A rural county with limited resources and small first responder staff will be more severely strained by most natural disasters than an urban setting with multiple agencies acting in concert. Remote areas are harder to reach and support by state, regional, federal and external agencies.

Effective emergency preparedness means recognizing that there is no “one-size-fits-all” natural disaster plan. Consequently, there should be a separate process for each hazard that may occur, built to the scale and capabilities of the agency responsible for the planning.

This may sound complicated, but it does not have to be.

Almost every possible scenario has played out in the past, and both FEMA and Emergency Preparedness Canada publish standards and guidance to accelerate the planning process. For example, hurricane plans generally start with “H minus120” – that is, 120 hours before estimated landfall. Certain preparedness elements must be put into play at this point. Additional action items and emergency communications continue at other predefined hourly markers until the hurricane passes, and the initial recovery process is complete.

Typical scenarios exist for any natural disaster, and agencies of all sizes can use them to tailor their own response plans to fit their needs and resources. Networked crisis communications and collaboration systems like AtHoc can help. AtHoc has broad experience building automated crisis and emergency communications systems and can help every organization dramatically reduce the time needed to automate many elements of existing plans that interface cleanly and immediately with both internal and external resources.

Coming Next: Emergency Preparedness and the Internet of Things (IoT)

]]>http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/anatomy-of-a-natural-disaster/feed/0floodlincogroup1blizzardfloodBES12 Cloud Update Delivers Powerful EMM for a Mobile-First, Cloud-First Worldhttp://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/bes12-cloud-update-delivers-powerful-emm-for-a-mobile-first-cloud-first-world/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/bes12-cloud-update-delivers-powerful-emm-for-a-mobile-first-cloud-first-world/#respondThu, 18 Feb 2016 12:10:25 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=17805/ Read More]]>Last March, we introduced BES12 Cloud, giving enterprises an easy way to get a full suite of enterprise mobility management (EMM) capabilities without the high costs of buying – or hassle of maintaining – new hardware, software or servers. It’s a great solution for a wide range of companies that are embracing cloud services.

Over the last 10 months or so, we’ve been adding new capabilities to BES12 Cloud that make it an even more powerful way to secure your enterprise devices, apps and content while giving your mobile users access to all the data and resources they need to get their jobs done from any location.

Today I’m pleased to announce new capabilities in BES12 Cloud designed to boost usability and security and expand support to the Windows 10 and OS X platforms. Coming on the heels of the updates we’ve made following our integration of Good Technology and WatchDox, as well as recent upgrades to BES12 on premises and cloud, these new features are a major investment in our quest to deliver the most flexible, unified and powerful solution in the EMM market.

Why you need EMM

It’s no wonder that cloud and mobility landed at number 2 and 3 on Gartner’s top 10 technology priorities for CIOs in 2016. Mobility and cloud services are reshaping the IT landscape, radically altering the way workers work, opening up new business opportunities and shattering the traditional perimeter of the business

While cloud services have come a long way and are considered by many experts at least as secure as on-premises data centers, this changing IT landscape is creating new threats to the organization. As users adopt their own cloud services, including Dropbox and others, they become IT’s biggest security threat and a tremendous vector for data leakage. But as much as some in IT try to resist these new trends, they are unstoppable forces. Organizations can’t stop people from using their mobile devices or home computers for work and, even if they could, doing so would harm the business and forfeit the productivity gains and employee satisfaction.

BES12 minimizes the risks by protecting your data, as well your employees’ privacy and ability to access company resources. And, as mentioned above, by integrating BES’s multi-OS EMM platform with Good Dynamics secure mobile app platform and container; Good Docs secure file access supporting SharePoint, file shares, OneDrive and Box; Good Work email and collaboration app; WatchDox enterprise file synchronization and sharing; and other capabilities, the complete BlackBerry solution is unmatched in providing comprehensive security and management for the boundaryless enterprise. The new Good Secure EMM Suites offer a single solution that you can scale as your organization’s needs grow or contract, and you can move back and forth between the cloud and on-premises versions as your needs change over time.

New features in BES12 Cloud

BES12 Cloud already delivers a secure, scalable, multi-OS platform for businesses of all sizes managing all types of mobile devices, including iOS, Android (including Android for Work and Samsung KNOX), Windows, Mac OS X, Windows Phone and BlackBerry. In this new update, we’ve added:

Support for Windows 10 and OS X devices – Administrators can make use of BES12’s intuitive, single-screen interface to secure and control Windows 10 and OS X devices.

More deployment options for Android – The ability to configure an Android for Work device with a single, work-only profile for corporate-liable devices. For Samsung KNOX Workspace users, User Privacy mode keeps user data separate and private from the employee workspace.

Better integration with corporate assets – ActiveSync gatekeeping enables admins to integrate control of access to the Microsoft Exchange server with BES. Directory integration has been improved to support adding, removing and synchronizing groups of users and simplifying ongoing user management for admins. Also, BES12 Cloud now supports the deployment and management of custom developed applications that are not available in public app stores.

Spanish localization – The admin console and end user self-service portals are now available in Spanish, in addition to the existing English, French, German and Japanese options.

]]>http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/bes12-cloud-update-delivers-powerful-emm-for-a-mobile-first-cloud-first-world/feed/0Cloudmkhalili2BES12 cloudcloud-2Why Home Healthcare Should Go Mobilehttp://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/why-home-healthcare-should-go-mobile/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/why-home-healthcare-should-go-mobile/#respondWed, 17 Feb 2016 12:48:14 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=17767/ Read More]]>Healthcare continues to undergo a transition, one driven by an aging population, chronic diseases and rising costs. Where once an elderly patient might have spent weeks recovering completely in a hospital bed, now she’s encouraged to find an alternate care level (ACL); in other words, an arrangement in which she can safely complete her convalescence that’s less expensive for all concerned, patient and provider alike.

That’s where home care services come in. Hospitalization is not only expensive, it can be stressful for patients and actually slow down their recovery. Often, discharge is a better choice, but only if the patient has a safe place to go. Home care is increasingly providing support for these patients. Workers who come to the patient’s home can provide full monitoring and support and often save patients with mobility challenges the trouble of repeated doctor visits for follow-up care. The same services can assist seniors in their daily lives, allowing them to “age in place” where they are most comfortable – their home.

Home Care’s Challenges

The home care sector is growing. Market research firm Tractica estimates that the number of patients worldwide using some form of home health technology will increase from 14.3 million in 2014 to 78.5 million by 2020. The benefits are clear. Patients treated at home remain closer to family and friends and get one-on-one care that tends to be more personalized than the hospital experience. These advantages lead to happier patients and faster recoveries.

Though home care offers many benefits, it is not without its challenges. For one, there is a lack of consistent, uniform standards for the industry. Although some home care agencies are accredited by authorized authorities, such as Accreditation Canada, ensuring standard practices and providing programs for continuous quality improvement.

Lack of communication can also be a serious problem. Home care workers work on their own and may not have immediate access to their supervisors or a back-up clinician. If they see something they don’t know how to deal with while tending to a patient in the field, they’re largely on their own with no easy access to advice.

Another hurdle is recordkeeping. According to VDC, a market researcher based in Natick, Mass., “20-25% of service providers’ time is spent on administration, placing a significant financial burden on home care service providers.” Tracking of employees’ time and the ability to deal with cancellations and missed visits are also difficult.

The above factors may lead to a poor patient experience and contribute to high annual turnover among home care workers, with rates as high as 62%, according to a 2014 survey by Home Care Pulse conducted in the US.

Last, for some jurisdictions, there is the matter of regulatory compliance. By law, patient data must be adequately protected and secured; failure to do so will result in financial penalties, reputational damage and possibly litigation.

Automated Reporting to the Rescue

Mobile technology from BlackBerry and their partners helps address the home health care challenges in the following ways:

Real-time, secure access to patient data

Automated reporting

Better communication

Improved scheduling

Safety

Safe Digital Home Care

Healthcare continues to be in a period of transition, and home care is at the heart of the change. By caring for people at home, providers can ensure better patient outcomes, lower treatment costs and offer both patients and staff a better overall experience. And by equipping home care workers with the right technology, providers can offer all of this without compromising patient privacy or the safety of their employees.

]]>http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/why-home-healthcare-should-go-mobile/feed/0Carer Helping Senior Woman To Walk In Garden Using Walking Framesarajosthome-health2John Schram We Carehome-health1Carer Helping Senior Woman To Walk In Garden Using Walking FrameWebcast Recap: How Hospitals are Using BlackBerry to Help Cut ER Wait Times by 67%http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/webcast-recap-how-hospitals-are-using-blackberry-to-help-cut-er-wait-times-by-67/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/webcast-recap-how-hospitals-are-using-blackberry-to-help-cut-er-wait-times-by-67/#respondWed, 10 Feb 2016 19:03:45 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=17749/ Read More]]>For patients in the emergency room, long wait times can mean vast differences in health outcomes. Even in less critical medical situations, delays in being seen by a doctor can add stress and frustration to an already difficult situation, as well as increase the chance that the patient’s condition will worsen or other problems will emerge.

On February 3, I hosted a BlackBerry webcast on Clinical Collaboration and Hospital Staff Coordination, along with two Ontario hospital executives – Kathleen Lavoie, Chief Information Management Officer and Chief Privacy Officer at Grand River Hospital, and Sarah Padfield, Chief Operating Officer at Chatham-Kent Health Alliance – to explore the reasons staff communication and collaboration is so complicated in the hospital and what these two hospitals have done differently to make it work well.

(Mobilitygives healthcare organizations a way to efficiently deliver the best quality patient care. However, with so many issues to consider, how do decision makers create a solid game plan for adopting secure mobility in healthcare?The BlackBerry Guide to Mobile Healthcareis a great start. Click here to get your free copy.)

According to data from the Joint Commission, 70% of treatment delays and sentinel events (i.e., unexpected deaths or serious injuries) in the hospital are caused by communications breakdowns. Improving and speeding communication within the hospital is essential to solving these problems.

The good news is that doctors, nurses and other hospital staff are already using mobile devices to communicate with one another. The bad news is they are using their personal smartphones and tablets – 67% of nurses are using personal smartphones to support clinical communications and workflow – and they may not have the high levels of security that healthcare communications should have. Nurses are most concerned with doing the right thing for patients, but using their own, unsecured devices is not secure nor as efficient as an enterprise solution would be.

How hospitals are collaborating securely

Clinical collaboration done right facilitates efficient and secure communication throughout the hospital, improves patient care and lowers costs. During the webinar, Grand River Hospital’s Lavoie and Chatham-Kent’s Padfield shared how they’re using BlackBerry’s BES12 with BBM to do clinical collaboration right. The entire Clinical Collaboration and Hospital Staff Coordination webcast is archived so you can watch it at your convenience, but here are a few things we discussed.

Ontario has clear guidelines and standards for how to communicate patients’ personal health information (PHI) via mobile devices, and BlackBerry is helping Grand River Hospital meet them, said Lavoie. “BlackBerry has the only tool I’ve found that will provide a healthcare setting with an end-to-end secure mobile solution, meaning it protects data in transit and data at rest,” she said.

Lavoie noted the value they’ve gotten from BBM Enterprise’s (formerly known as BBM Protected) abilities to let staff see who is on call; communicate with a team about a specific patient; find a person in a contact list through a standardized professional naming convention; and create priority for messages.

Padfield said BBM paired with Oculys Health Informatics tools has improved visibility into how patients flow through the system, which helps them predict and optimize the flow and eliminate bottlenecks.

Before the new systems came online, the average wait time for a Chatham-Kent emergency department patient to get into an inpatient room was 9.3 hours; today it’s down to 3 hours, a 67% decrease.

And this translates to measurable outcomes for patient care, as well. As Lavoie said, “we can’t take chances because we’re dealing with patients’ lives here.”

Roughly 95,000 military personnel in a number of different commands are assigned to the area around San Diego, Calif. When their dependents and families are taken into account, the total military population in the region is about 175,000 people, in a city of 1.4 million in an urban area of over 3.1 million residents.

One of the largest Naval Hospitals in the world is the Naval Medical Center San Diego, which sits on 78 acres on a hill above commercial high rises, a large convention center, major league baseball park, and tourist attractions in downtown San Diego. If you have ever visited the World Famous San Diego Zoo or the city’s sprawling Balboa Park and museum complex, you may have noticed the Navy Hospital immediately next-door, where thousands of tourists park and walk.

The Navy Medical Center includes a 272-bed hospital, eight clinics for active duty personnel, and nine primary care sites for military families. There are also day care centers, schools, and homes, shopping areas, businesses, critical Interstate arteries, and an ocean-going Cruise ship terminal nearby. The international border crossing into Tijuana, Mexico is 15 miles to the south. Most of the commercial airline traffic, cargo planes, private aircraft, and military flights that land at San Diego’s main airport, Lindbergh Field, fly almost directly over the Naval Medical Campus at low altitude on final approach.

So, the stakes were very high when a single civilian witness last week reported hearing gunshots in a Navy-owned fitness center, a few buildings away from the main hospital. In the end, it was determined that no shots were actually fired, and the source of the loud, staccato sounds was never conclusively identified. But, all of the advanced planning, training, emergency protocols, and crisis alert infrastructure worked as it was designed.

“Run, Hide, or Fight”

Since the threat seemed very real, and everyone responded accordingly, the realism and adherence to emergency measures and strict protocols served as a successful, unintended drill scenario of the very best kind, with a safe, no-harm-done outcome.

AtHoc Interoperable Communications on Center Stage

At 8:17 am on a mild and clear Tuesday, a Navy security team issued a “possible active shooter, shelter in place” alert to the roughly 5,000 people on the hospital campus. Although the Navy later determined there was no shooter, the threat received the highest priority. Within seconds, warnings were issued throughout the urban core, schools and offices were locked down, and several suburban cities within a moderate radius were notified to respond with mutual aid resources. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper, “Sailors, Marines and civilians working at the hospital were instructed to ‘run, hide, or fight’ – the advice given on the Department of Homeland Security’s ‘pocket card’ issued last year and used in military training.”

AtHoc’s interoperable communications technology played a pivotal role in the alert notifications and interoperable crisis communications. The AtHoc system ensures that secure, scalable communications are always ready to be implemented.

“One of the things that went right… was the installation’s ability to get the word out in a quick and complete manner.”

Contact information and addresses within the AtHoc system are updated on a regular basis, so that the correct personnel always receive the right information over approved messaging channels, such as laptops and tablets, smartphones, desktop computers, and secure radios.

Mobile first responders, command structure, loudspeaker systems, emergency annunciators, and crisis management centers, as well as key staff at external organizations and governmental agencies, all received a flow of critical information as the situation evolved.

A medical staff member in the main Navy Hospital in San Diego reported, “We first heard an audible announcement on the PA system, and within seconds I received a popup alert on my computer monitor as I was entering data into a medical application. Shortly after that, we all got text alerts on our phones. I immediately sheltered behind a locked door in my office and stayed there for several hours. The periodic updates we received throughout the day were reassuring, and when it was all over, we felt pretty good about the way it went and how everyone reacted.”

“Quick and Complete” Crisis Communications

Many of the communications were pre-scripted and tiered according to what recipients were authorized to know, and his or her direct task in response to the situation. Recipients responded according to clear, concise directives, helping to ensure that security personnel deployed to where they were supposed to be, and first response resources could be allocated for maximum effectiveness.

Communications are monitored by the AtHoc platform for expected response. This information is automatically tabulated, so that emergency response managers know where unexpected activity is taking place, and can redirect responders accordingly. Information can be analyzed after any incident to review how the situation was handled, so that areas for improvement can be determined and new measures implemented.

A headline in Navy Times about this incident read, “Navy Touts Active-Shooter Response After False Alarm.” The same article quoted Capt. Anthony Calandra, Navy Installations Command’s chief of public safety, as saying, “One of the things that went right… was the installation’s ability to get the word out in a quick and complete manner.”

]]>http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/unintentional-active-shooter-drill-goes-well-in-san-diego/feed/0Emergency Photolincogroup1Naval Medical Center San DiegoEmergency Vehiclesbusinessman in black suit pushing button crisis globalActive Shooter Protocols: Best Practices for Response Traininghttp://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/active-shooter-protocols-best-practices-for-response-training/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/active-shooter-protocols-best-practices-for-response-training/#respondTue, 02 Feb 2016 11:21:23 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=17655/ Read More]]>For business leaders, staying informed of industry best practices for workplace security is paramount for maintaining an atmosphere of vigilance, as well as a safe and secure environment for employees. While it is true that your chances of being harmed in an automobile-related incident are far higher than while at work or in a public place by a deranged shooter, being prepared is still the best option.

In a world where these tragedies do happen, having a plan and procedure for how your organization will respond in a threat scenario is an important contributor to employee morale and productivity on a daily basis. With that in mind, here is a simple plan for training your workforce to respond to an active shooter threat.

Alerts and Warnings

Constructing the alert messages to go out to everyone on site at the moment of need should be viewed as an essential part of the preparedness effort. These messages must attract immediate attention and move people to comply with the directive being transmitted. The specific verbiage relating to the source of the alert and the action words that describe the immediate options available should be clearly communicated.

The mode and medium of communications should be chosen carefully to include text messages, email, voice announcements, desktop alerts and other push notification apps. It must be decided if it would be advantageous to activate strobe lights, fire alarm enunciators and speakerphones, or consider whether silent alerts would be a better option to allow people to be quiet and less noticeable when hiding from perpetrators.

It might make sense in one building to make loud noises to distract a potential attacker while in another building keep all messages silent after the initial alert. This has to be evaluated and worked out for each discrete environment.

The planning and development of a series of alerts, warning messages and status updates should be done by architects who possess training and experience in designing and communicating critical messages. The choice of words and subtle nuances must be carefully crafted to elicit the desired response from both employees and visitors, including those who may not have adequate training.

Practice Drills

Most organizations have a fire evacuation plan as well as a “shelter-in-place” plan for tornadoes and earthquakes. These are foundational exercises. Ensuring compliance and mastery in these basic drills will promote active cooperation in threat situations as well as provide the organization diagnostic information to refine protocol development.

Beginning with a solid foundation of an empowered and educated workforce will facilitate team members that can take individual responsibility to rapidly and confidently leave the building through primary and secondary exits, and fully account for everyone. This is the first and most important goal! People should be coached and rewarded for rapid compliance with alerting and warnings. They should master both evacuation and shelter-in-place before embarking on a run-hide-fight strategy.

Run-Hide-Fight

Introducing the run-hide-fight strategy should start with an internally produced video or case study of lessons learned from previous or possible events. This concept is self-explanatory, but should be translated into an employee’s particular working environment. During training, be sure to include every conference room, auditorium, lecture hall and lunchroom. Employees should be taught to:

Look for two ways out of every space to run and evacuate if the warning is sounded.

Look for methods to barricade a door to prevent access.

Look for places to hide where they will be less of an obvious target.

The last resort, when leaving or hiding is not possible, is to fight. Consider taking sudden, violent action to incapacitate the shooter using simple, available objects such as hot coffee pots, letter openers, paperweights, fire extinguishers and equipment. Throwing objects to distract, becoming aggressive and executing actions to hurt or injure the shooter may be the option of last resort.

These actions should be simulated in training so that actions learned in training may be replicated if a threat materializes. Reinforcing muscle memory is done by actually walking through the processes of run-hide-fight and providing training in context.

Training people to walk past injured colleagues is a difficult subject, but the skill is imperative to rapidly and efficiently evacuate the greatest number of exposed personnel away from a threat. Other concepts, like not distracting or interfering with arriving law enforcement, obeying all directives and commands, and keeping hands exposed and empty must be modeled and practiced to be replicated during a high-stress situation.

Effectively managing critical events like weather and safety emergencies, interruptions to business operations and IT outages requires a unique set of communication capabilities. Learn how AtHoc’s platform delivers important, secure messages in times of crisis to protect the people and organizations you care about by participating in our new webcast Introduction to AtHoc: The Secure Messaging Division of BlackBerry. Also, visit BlackBerry Webcast Central for archived webcasts on other topics important to you and your business.

]]>http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/02/active-shooter-protocols-best-practices-for-response-training/feed/0Fear in the Officelincogroup1active_shooterPolice officers with riflesYoung businesswoman overcome by fear in an office.Secure Organizational Messages, Enhance Collaboration, and Boost Productivity with BBM Enterprisehttp://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/01/secure-organizational-messages-enhance-collaboration-and-boost-productivity-with-bbm-protected/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/01/secure-organizational-messages-enhance-collaboration-and-boost-productivity-with-bbm-protected/#respondThu, 28 Jan 2016 20:13:07 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=17611/ Read More]]>Consumer instant messaging (IM) use has grown exponentially in the last five years, as employees in enterprise organizations are increasingly looking for immediate answers to keep their work moving.

Email is not providing the real-time communications that enterprise employees have grown accustomed to using in their personal lives with consumer-grade IM solutions, like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat and iMessage, not to mention plain-old SMS text. The use of these consumer IM messaging applications for business poses serious threats in terms of security and privacy within all types of enterprise organizations. Consumer IM applications:

Are out of the control of an organization’s IT department, leaving organizations and their employees open to spying by malicious parties.

Are vulnerable to data leakage that can result from lost or stolen phones.

Do not maintain regulatory obligations such as security certifications and approvals required by various industries (including financial services, healthcare and government).

Not only leave organizational information and data at risk, but – moreover – open up an organization’s customer’s private data and personal information to loss.

Enterprise-grade BBM Enterprise (formerly known as BBM Protected) solves these problems while still supporting employees’ productivity needs. The latest version of BBM Enterprise, submitted today to Google Play, BlackBerry World and the App Store, adds new and essential features to what has long been the industry standard for secure messaging.

Team Chats – BBM Enterprise now allows organizational teams to take advantage of context-specific, secure BBM collaboration sessions. By assigning a subject to the Team Chat session, team members can keep track of what’s important, stay productive and enhance what they can accomplish. This is a key capability for regulated industries like healthcare, enabling doctors and other providers to securely share information about patients to improve care, or in financial services, allowing wealth managers to communicate clients’ financial data with support staff to enhance client service and satisfaction.

High Priority Messages – BBM Enterprise users can tag important BBM Enterprise Messages within a conversation as High Priority messages, ensuring they are not missed. High Priority messages are marked in red text to signify their importance, allowing users to identify that the message contains an action item that needs to be immediately acted upon. High Priority messages promote BBM Enterprise users to action upon critical communication situations, to generate more productive outcomes when it matters most.

Delivered and Read Notifications Available in Multi-Person Chats – BBM Enterprise users can now see exactly who has read or has received a BBM Enterprise message when communicating with multiple individuals. This enhancement to Multi-Person Chats helps improve secure communications by enabling enhanced engagement within, between and outside of organizational teams.

IT Administrator Policy: Restrict Copy and Paste – There are some communications that are for certain eyes only. Now IT administrators can protect the security of those messages by restricting company employees from using copy and paste functionalities within a BBM Chat through the Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry IT Admin Console. This added security layer prevents data leakage and ensures that an organization’s information & data stays within a given organization or group of people.

These new enhancements for BBM Enterprise are an integral part of updates to BlackBerry’s enterprise software portfolio under the Good Secure EMM Suites portfolio. This also includes the integration of Good and WatchDox products into BlackBerry’s multi-OS enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution, BES12.

“BBM Enterprise is synergistic to the privacy and protection offered by the Good Secure EMM Suites in providing the privacy and protection to data at rest or data in transit, with the end-to-end protection that BBM Enterprise offers for secured messaging,” said Herman Li, Senior Vice President, BBM Software Development.

BBM Enterprise is available cross-platform to meet the diverse and evolving needs of any enterprise organization. Part of the BlackBerry Software Platform housed within the Communication and Collaboration Portfolio, BBM Enterprise delivers best-in-class security while ensuring personal and organizational privacy, and includes world-class service and support.

During a time of an emergency in an airport environment, it can be difficult to effectively communicate without the proper infrastructure in place. Aging communications systems, legacy technologies and incompatible systems are challenges for many airports, and the difficulty lies in economically transitioning the functionality of standalone systems into a single unified experience for all constituencies. With modern technologies that support interoperable communication, airport operators can more effectively inform their tenants, surrounding networks and broader community to coordinate a timely response during the time of a crisis.

The term “interoperable communications” is the ability for the different communications systems that organizations utilize to exchange critical information during an emergency. Interoperability has the potential to save lives and provides safety within the physical, cyber and public state. To ensure public safety on airport properties across the globe, airport emergency operators should consider some best practices, as outlined below by AtHoc, a division of BlackBerry, to improve operational efficiency and interoperable communications.

Improve collaboration between public and private agencies
One of the biggest challenges airports face is the ability to effectively communicate and collaborate throughout all the divisions. Oftentimes public and private entities from retail vendors to federal government authorities have isolated means of communication. Each airline, cargo company, maintenance business and vendor has their own organizational process, procedure and culture. In an emergency situation, these individual communication systems and relationships can put the alerting process under tremendous strain. In order to provide seamless communication, it’s essential that the entire community operate as an interconnected network. With the right communications systems in place, operators can alert thousands of staff at once, and collaborate with the appropriate personnel to handle the front end of an emergency. There are technology solutions available today that offer solutions to this challenge. See below for more information.

Provide emergency response training to all airport employees, not just security personnel
There’s an increasing need for basic emergency response training and understanding of how the airport’s emergency response program operates across the board. These various response training sessions should include all airport employees, including vendors and groups that have partnerships with the airport. Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, for example, is looking to implement a computer-based training module which will provide all airport and contract employees a coordinated plan of what to do and when do it during an emergency.

Manage control and permissions with secure failover systems
To improve coordination between departments, airports must address how to share information internally. Control and permissions should be adjusted across the organization with access granted to appropriate individuals to ensure that the public sees necessary information at the time that they need to see it. As this happens, it is essential that security is ingrained into the system. By statute and as a business practice, personally identifiable information, confidential operational information and other critical data need to be protected and stored in secure failover systems, especially when essential details must be revealed on very short notice and to specifically targeted populations.

How to optimize human and technological communication methods to address emergency communications challenges

Discussion of the issue of interoperability as it relates to the full spectrum of communication modes (radio, telephone, eMail, SMS, digital displays)

Directly from practitioners at Dallas Ft. Worth International Airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport who deal with the complexities of airport collaboration during routine operations and during crises:

]]>http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2016/01/secure-crisis-communications-in-airports-best-practices-to-create-interoperable-networks/feed/0Electronic datalincogroup1Elegant businessman using touchpad in airportSecurity Visible At Nations Airports Prior To 4th Of July CelebrationsHow Quickly Can a Voice Call Be Hacked? The Truth May Give You Some Hang-Upshttp://bizblog.blackberry.com/2015/12/how-quickly-can-a-voice-call-be-hacked-the-truth-may-give-you-some-hang-ups/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2015/12/how-quickly-can-a-voice-call-be-hacked-the-truth-may-give-you-some-hang-ups/#respondMon, 28 Dec 2015 15:12:01 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=17377/ Read More]]>As the use of mobile devices for business continues to rise, the risks stemming from the hacking of voice communication have increased dramatically. From public embarrassment and backlash to the loss of sensitive or regulated data, the implications are vast.

Think you’re not a target? Think again

While spying and hacking may seem like things that only fall under the realm of governments, security organizations, and the occasional celebrity, the reality is that these kinds of attacks are happening to more and more businesses, regardless of size or industry. The statistics are striking:

At the end of 2014, security experts found that mobile attacks had increased four times to over 1 million unique attacks, compared with the same period in the previous year.

A recent BlackBerry commissioned survey indicated that 68% of CIOs and risk and compliance leaders agreed that mobile devices were the weakest link in their security framework.

Your data can be captured even before you start to speak

Karsten Knol, a cryptography and security researcher responsible for exposing weaknesses within GSM networks, says, “Current commercial interceptors decrypt within seconds, often faster than the time a user takes to answer the call.”

The methods will leave you speechless

Hackers are highly nimble and inventive. The following examples show that where there’s a will, there’s a way:

The previous year, a hacker also demonstrated how to intercept calls with a $1,500 device.

More recently, researchers at ANSSI, France’s information security research organization, showed that digital assistants can be co-opted into issuing malicious commands from up to 16 feet away. All that was needed was some fairly low-cost radio transmitting equipment and a headphone used as an antenna.

As the News Of The World scandal in the UK proved, voicemail can be easily hacked by having two people call a user’s phone at the same time. The first call generates the busy signal, while the second caller is sent to a voicemail prompt. From there the hackers utilized insecure passwords, like 1111, to access the user’s messages.

A 2015 undercover investigation by an Australian news program exposed vulnerabilities in the signaling system architecture. By giving German hackers access to the reporter’s phone, the hackers were able to intercept and record any of the reporter’s phone conversations with any individual, anywhere in the world, even though the hackers were half a world away.

A recent 60 Minutes presentation called “Hacking your Phone” detailed how, thanks to flaws in SS7, it’s possible to listen in on someone if the only piece of information you have is their phone number – this includes listening in on calls, spying on who they contact, reading texts, and tracking their location.

Raising awareness and security

Part of the solution is making users aware of the vulnerabilities. Experts advise that anyone who discusses confidential or sensitive information on their mobile phone should assume that they can be eavesdropped on and act accordingly.

However, there’s no need for this awareness to be tempered with fear. Instead, this knowledge can be combined with trusted enterprise security tools that provide effective, end-to-end encryption to protect both business and personal calls. Like most business concerns, common sense and practical tools go a long way toward combating data breaches.

]]>http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2015/12/how-quickly-can-a-voice-call-be-hacked-the-truth-may-give-you-some-hang-ups/feed/0executive-calllukereim1voice call hackvoice call hackWhy Hackers Want You to Keep Your Voice Communications Unprotectedhttp://bizblog.blackberry.com/2015/12/why-hackers-want-you-to-keep-your-voice-communications-unprotected/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2015/12/why-hackers-want-you-to-keep-your-voice-communications-unprotected/#respondMon, 21 Dec 2015 16:56:13 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=17358/ Read More]]>For most business users, making a phone call is as routine as having a morning cup of coffee. For IT and security professionals, any phone or voice communication made on a mobile device poses a significant security and business threat.

Another misconception is that smartphone and mobile device hacking is something that only happens in big-budget spy thrillers featuring high-tech stunts and a computer lab filled with evil foes.

Data theft goes from the big screen to the touchscreen

A 2014 Ponemon Institute survey of 618 IT and IT security practitioners revealed that 63% of respondents believed that data breaches involving mobile devices had occurred within their organizations.

According to a 2014 BlackBerry study of 800 IT and security professionals from around the world, nearly two-thirds of respondents reported that the number of data breaches resulting from mobile devices had increased in the previous year.

A majority, 66% of the professionals in the BlackBerry study, also said that it is difficult for their organizations to keep up with emerging mobile trends and security threats.

Let’s talk consequences…

A phone call on a mobile device may feel like a private exchange between two people, but for determined criminals it’s an opportunity for intercepting the information they are discussing. And with more and more conversations taking place away from the office, the types of information inadvertently exposed can be very sensitive.

Financial — Earnings results, forecasts and budgets

Mergers and acquisition — Partners, targets and purchase negotiations

Research and development — Roadmaps, intellectual property and architecture

Losing data is more than just a drama

In its report The Cost of Insecure Mobile Devices in the Workplace, the Ponemon Institute states the consequences of hacking go far beyond the physical loss of data. Depending on the nature of the information and the organization itself, the risks can include the following:

A damaged reputation

Business disruptions

Loss of business/customers/clients

Regulatory actions/lawsuits

Financial, time and other costs of recovery

The new SecuSUITE for Enterprise provides secure calling and text messaging on mobile devices, across multiple operating systems, including iOS, Android and BlackBerry 10.

You will also lose way more than street cred

According to the 2015 Cost of Data Breach Study, the average consolidated total cost of a data breach was $3.8 million USD, representing a 23% increase since 2013. The cost incurred for each lost or stolen record containing sensitive and confidential information also increased six percent from a consolidated average of $145 to $154 USD.

It’s a boom time for hackers and they’re ready for their close-ups

If it were up to the hackers, they wouldn’t have you change a thing. Your status quo is their time in the spotlight. Don’t let the bad guys win. Treat your mobile security policies and solutions with the respect they deserve and look into intuitive solutions, like SecuSUITE for Enterprise, that work across multiple platforms and carriers, providing end-to-end encryption and peace of mind for mobile voice communication. Read this blog to get an overview of SecuSUITE for Enterprise, which officially became available today, or check out the brochure or data sheet on our SlideShare channel.

File sharing has become a key component of productivity across many industries and verticals – though it also represents a significant risk if improperly managed. As noted in a previous post on document control, employees freed of oversight tend to practice a staggering degree of negligence where file sharing’s concerned. Internal employees are not the only risk, either.

Many modern business processes involve third parties. Within your own walls, IT has enough visibility to mitigate the damage when data loss occurs. This is not the case with a third-party environment – your documents are at the mercy of your contractor or business partner.

If you’re a healthcare provider of any sort, then at least one of your business partners is likely a security laggard – and it falls to you to ensure you don’t put your data at risk.

Why does document security matter, anyway?

Healthcare organizations typically share highly sensitive Protected Health Information (PHI) such as consults, patient files and diagnoses, imaging files, health insurance details, and other data. Distributing and storing such data through anything other than a compliant platform is a clear violation of the US’s Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), with the potential for regulatory and legal action if discovered. In this regard, IT is faced with a significant challenge.

Consulting doctors typically work with multiple healthcare providers, often requiring access to patients’ PHI at one point or another. Because these professionals are independent, their devices may not be managed by any IT organization. As such, basic security measures such as passwords and device encryption often aren’t enabled.

It isn’t simply PHI that’s at risk, either.

Proprietary information such as databases, research protocols, clinical trials and medical research is shared in high volume among hospitals, research authorities, pharmaceutical firms, regulatory bodies and other parties. The more entities that files are shared with, the greater the chance they will be leaked or misused. Many healthcare providers are also consolidating to reduce costs and expand market share and, as part of the merger process, are sharing commercially sensitive files.

What happens to this unprotected information if the parties part ways because a merger could not be negotiated?

The biggest threat to healthcare data security

While it’s certainly true that sophisticated cyberattacks, such as the one that struck Anthem earlier this year, threaten healthcare data security, that isn’t the primary cause of data loss. It’s lost and stolen devices. Sensitive information such as PHI is frequently accessed and stored on mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets or laptops, all of which are easily stolen or misplaced.

At issue here is the fact that there exists no way of ensuring visibility into how files are being used with traditional sharing tools, particularly with third parties. Once a file has been downloaded to a user’s device, it must be left to faith that it’s secure. All control is lost, and the user can modify the file as they see fit.

How WatchDox Makes Your Documents Safer

A two-time visionary in Gartner’s EFSS Magic Quadrant, WatchDox provides built-in Digital Rights Management that ensures your sensitive documents are protected no matter where they are. More importantly, it connects your employees and partners to the files they need to get their work done, no matter their platform or device. Here’s how it works:

The owner of a shared document library chooses how and with whom they will share their files. Only approved users have access.

DRM-protected files are ALWAYS strongly encrypted, wherever they go. And only authorized parties can decrypt and view the files.

Granular policies are used to allow or disallow local saving, cutting and pasting, copying, editing, forwarding and screenshotting.

WatchDox is accessible through clients, plugins and a Web interface. All three are designed for ease of use, requiring only a simple login process for a user to have access. Clients are available on both Android and iOS devices.

WatchDox’s DRM integrates easily with all major operating systems.

Conclusion

File sharing has exploded across many industries, healthcare included. Unfortunately, without the right tools to protect sensitive data, this fundamental use case only exacerbates PHI security risks. Left unchecked, employees frequently misuse sensitive files, and the amount of sharing that takes place in the health industry makes the risk that something might be leaked all but a guarantee.

WatchDox provides organizations with a way to ensure that their information is kept safe and secure, without requiring them to sacrifice employee productivity in the process.

]]>http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2015/12/share-smarter-making-the-case-for-secure-file-sharing-in-healthcare/feed/0Important medical decisionsjaywbarbour42A group of young doctors and nurses talking together over a medical reportAttractive Asian health care professional reading text messages on a smart phone. Shot with telephone lens using shallow depth of field to blur out background details.stolen laptop, PHIWatchDox by BB sqI Spy: Two Ways Enterprises Can Secure Their Communication in the Surveillance Agehttp://bizblog.blackberry.com/2015/12/i-spy-two-ways-enterprises-can-secure-their-communication-in-the-surveillance-age/
http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2015/12/i-spy-two-ways-enterprises-can-secure-their-communication-in-the-surveillance-age/#respondThu, 03 Dec 2015 16:29:49 +0000http://bizblog.blackberry.com/?p=17286/ Read More]]>

I think it’s safe to say that we’ve moved past the Information Age – we’re now living in the Surveillance Age. Marketers want our personal information to fine-tune their campaigns. Companies want our personal information to build demographic data. And governments want… well, that kind of depends.

When tales of espionage circulate in the news, it’s too easy – and perhaps more comforting – to think of each incident as an isolated one. Unfortunately, on the global stage, every country has some form of spying program in place. And privacy isn’t the only thing you need to worry about.

This past July, the FBI uncovered hundreds of different espionage cases targeting United States businesses. According to the agency, the government responsible is targeting the US as never before, sending state-sponsored black hats to break into the networks of overseas corporations. And they aren’t interested in stealing social security numbers or personal emails.

No, they’re after something with a far greater payoff.

A climate of corporate espionage

According to The Daily Beast’s Shane Harris: “When [these] hackers or spies make off with companies’ pricing data, secret formulas or software code, they’re giving it to overseas companies to give them an unfair advantage in the global marketplace.”

“Many nations eavesdrop, each for their own reasons,” writes Technology Review’s Antonio Regalado. “Some target dissidents with malware to watch their keystrokes. Others also bleed companies of intellectual secrets about jet fighters and wind turbines. So pervasive and successful has digital espionage become that in 2012, Keith Alexander, the Army general in charge of the NSA, described it as ‘the greatest transfer of wealth in history.’ He estimated that US companies lose $250 billion a year to intellectual property theft.”

In light of all the buzz floating around about surveillance, many businesses are understandably nervous about outsourcing or working outside their country. After all, if government bodies are willing to so brazenly send intelligence agencies after the intellectual property of other countries, it stands to reason that they’d be more than willing to listen in on conferences, intercept messages and eavesdrop on phone calls. In such a nation, even something as innocuous as a brief chat between executives could result in a leak.

The problem here is that modern enterprise operates on a global scale. Businesses work with third-party vendors and contractors. They send employees all over the world and collaborate across continents and oceans. Those employees need to be able to use the tools they’ve been given for their jobs – they need to be able to use their laptops, smartphones and tablets without fear.

In order to do that, the security on an organization’s unified communications system needs to be iron-clad.

The case for secure communication

To be fair, eavesdropping has always been a concern in unified communications. It’s just that recently, the looming issue of global surveillance has positioned that problem front and center. Rather than having to be wary of some black hats looking to make a quick buck, businesses must defend themselves against entire agencies that seek to steal their secrets – rival organizations and other governments alike.

“UC endpoints, whether desktops, laptops or IP phones – not really phones but rather computers with specialized user interfaces – all connect to the data network and can be tapped by compromising the network anywhere along the data route,” explains John Burke of Nemertes Research. “Moreover, it has become possible with hard or softphones, once they are compromised, to have their conferencing or handset/headset microphones activated without being taken off the hook.

“This enables remote eavesdropping on private conversations taking place in person, and often behind closed doors,” he adds.

In order to protect against corporate espionage, your business needs to bake encryption into all of its communications tools – instant messaging in particular. More importantly, it needs to do so without inconveniencing the people who use it.

The power of protected messaging and secure voice

The first is BBM Enterprise (formerly known as BBM Protected), the perfect solution for businesses looking for the productivity of instant messaging without compromising security. With it, administrators can easily manage and control the flow of information through their organization, and employees are protected without being inconvenienced. In addition to guarding messages with enterprise-grade encryption, it offers a full suite of consumer chat features, an intuitive administration panel, seamless integration with most enterprise mobility management (EMM) platforms, and the ability to extend encryption to non BBM-protected users.

You can’t just encrypt your instant messages, however – you also need to protect voice communication against eavesdropping. And that’s where SecuSUITE for Enterprise comes in.

SecuSUITE protects voice messages with encryption

A platform- and OS-agnostic software-based solution, SecuSUITE secures both calls and text messages on mobile devices, leveraging the same encryption technology trusted by governments to protect state secrets. Better yet, it’s both convenient and easy-to-manage, integrating readily into existing systems and requiring no additional servers or hardware to run. Check out the brochure or data sheet on our SlideShare channel.

By utilizing both BBM Enterprise and SecuSUITE for Enterprise, your organization can truly secure its mobile arm without breaking its budget, frustrating its end users or stymieing its administrators.

It’s an unavoidable fact that modern businesses operate in a global economy. It’s also a hard fact that, in the course of doing so, yours will encounter hackers and spies. In order to ensure your employees are still able to communicate and collaborate in the face of these security threats, you need to provide them with a secure platform on which to do so.

As discussed in our piece on legal security, law firms are under increasing scrutiny by both corporations and regulatory agencies. It’s all too easy to forget, however, that legal services isn’t the only industry that’s fallen under the watchful eyes of regulators, just as it’s easy to forget that one’s own employees can pose just as great a risk as a third-party vendor. In large part, this is due to the new-found prevalence of file sharing within the enterprise.

Documents containing data such as intellectual property, commercially sensitive data and financial information are being shared with increasing frequency both inside and outside the organization. On the one hand, this allows employees to better collaborate with one another and enjoy greater productivity as a result. On the other, it also presents a significant security risk for an organization that’s caught unprepared.

File Sharing’s Position in the Security Paradigm

“Cloud sharing has become prevalent among many workers who want to share documents but don’t feel like using physical media to transport them” writes Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics Examiner Paul Kubler, speaking to Digital Guardian. “This may be because the files are large, USBs are restricted or email filters catch the documents. This can present a problem in collaboration. Companies need to find secure alternatives for their employees to share documents they can deploy at the enterprise level.”

“Without this,” he continues, “employees may use a plethora of free vendors or have numerous accounts, and none are being audited or monitored.”

Freed of oversight, employees can – and will – make mistakes. A 2014 study by the Ponemon Institute saw 61% of employees confess that they send unencrypted emails, fail to delete confidential documents or accidentally forward sensitive data to unauthorized recipients. The study also found that 50% of security professionals do not believe their business has the capacity to manage and control user access to sensitive documents, and that those organizations that do have file-sharing policies are not effectively communicating them.

Within your organization or without, a shared file will eventually find its way to someone who will misuse it. Whether the user responsible does so out of ignorance, malice, greed or frustration – likely the former – the end result will be the same. Sensitive information will fall into the wrong hands, and your business will be left to deal with the consequences.

Just look at what happened to DuPont. In the 1990s, a couple founded a small company that aimed to take advantage of China’s desire for a white pigment named titanium dioxide. DuPont’s employees sold the couple sensitive documents containing information on the pigment, which were in turn sold to a competitor owned by the Chinese government.

In order to avoid encountering a situation like DuPont’s, you must adjust how you secure your organization – security controls that authenticate users to file sharing servers and encrypt the files when downloaded are insufficient. Your security measures must instead follow your documents wherever they go, including third-party environments which your IT team, for all practical purposes, cannot control. That’s where WatchDox by BlackBerry comes in.

The Watchdox Solution

WatchDox provides DRM (Digital Rights Management) security to protect even the most sensitive documents from being leaked or misused – without inconveniencing the people trying to access them. Recently recognized for the second year in a row by Gartner in its 2015 Critical Capabilities for Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing report, it allows businesses to safeguard their data without having to sacrifice an ounce of productivity.

Here’s how it works:

The owner of a shared document library chooses how and with whom they will share their files. No one else has access.

Depending on the policies set by the owner, users may be able to make and save edits to the original file on the secure server, save the file locally, forward it to other parties, make printouts, or any combination of the above. A typical security-conscious configuration only allows edits to the original secure server-based file, and prevents forwarding, local re-saving and printing.

User-specific background watermarks can be enforced so that anyone who misuses a sensitive document is immediately held accountable.

Securely shared folders are readily accessible on any authorized user’s device through WatchDox clients and plugins. They are also accessible through a web browser.

The DRM security capabilities are supported by Microsoft Office with a WatchDox plugin, and WatchDox clients are available for both iOS and Android devices. This DRM ensures that WatchDox files are always uniquely encrypted for each specific authorized user.

Defending yourself against malware and sophisticated attacks is all well and good, but don’t forget to protect yourself against smaller threats, as well. Given the right circumstances, an uninformed, misinformed or malicious user can cause just as much damage as a black hat criminal. Unless your business enforces a document-control policy of some kind, and supports it with a solution such as WatchDox, it will inevitably find sensitive assets falling into the wrong hands – if not due to internal employees, then due to a partner or vendor.

Want to learn more about how BlackBerry safeguards your security, or have a few questions about WatchDox? We recently hosted a leadership interview with David Kleidermacher, BlackBerry’s Chief Security Officer. You can view it (and other previous webinars) on BlackBerry Enterprise Webcast Central.